Meditation: Free your mind, and the rest will follow

September 25, 2018
| by City of Hope

You can ease your chronic pain, lower high blood pressure and anxiety and even drop levels of stress hormones through a simple step, and it doesn’t even cost anything. All you have to do is think – or maybe stop thinking so hard.

There are lots of forms of meditation: tai chi and qi gong are meditative, and some people relax by repeating words or phrases, called mantras. Although some forms started as part of Eastern religions, meditation is not a religion itself – and many people use it just to boost their well-being.

Particularly popular among cancer patients is mindfulness meditation. According to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, research shows that doing this regularly can improve quality of life. In one study of cancer patients who practiced mindfulness meditation for seven weeks, nearly a third had fewer stress symptoms and nearly two thirds experienced fewer mood disturbances than patients who didn’t meditate.